Knight, Miss Worker
by Tha1n0nlYVoyGirl
Summary: B'Elanna accepts Tom's invitation to meet the pregnant couple in "Workforce". Though, everything isn't going her way.


Title: Knight, Miss Worker   
  
Author: Voy_Girl --- Write me: frky_vg@kittymail.com  
  
Written: 22-23/12 2002   
  
SPOILER WARNING: Workforce 1   
  
DISCLAIMER: don't own P/T, or the planet Quarra, or any of the workers.   
  
Summary: What if B'Elanna agreed to meeting Tom and the other pregnant couple. Set   
between Tom proposed it, and Neelix kidnapped B'Elanna.   
  
Code/s: T, P, P/T. 3rd person POV.   
  
Genre: Drama   
  
  
  
Beta Reader: Danni (Seven of Nine) --- Write her: The-Sunshine-Princess@dannimatzk.co.uk  
Big Special Thank You!  
  
  
  
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"Knight, Miss Worker" by Voy_Girl   
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The doors to her lean collection of clothes slammed shut almost immediately after she'd   
opened them. B'Elanna grinned at the smooth doors, resisting an urge to rest her damp   
forehead against the cool material. Everything she did seemed to wear her out nowadays.   
  
She had nothing to worry, not to think especially about. A meeting with a friend wasn't the   
same as a mentally strenuous date. She grabbed the black, warm coat and wrapped it around   
her shoulders, unwilling to button it since the strain of the fabric covering her belly   
irritated her.   
  
*   
  
When she closed the door to her little apartment, she realized she still had a small smile  
at the corners of her lips. And by all the means of justice; she deserved to be a little   
happy. A glad and open mind could make any evening float faster. B'Elanna just wasn't sure  
she wanted this coming evening to end as abruptly as she feared. When she'd finally worked  
up the courage to accept Tom's invitation to a meeting with him and the other couple who   
expected their first born, she needed some quality time with them too.   
  
With possible friends, being so rare and unique in her world, that she'd for a long time,   
alone with her bitterness, had placed 'friends' as a title which should be protected from  
her by Quarran law.   
  
  
  
***   
  
B'Elanna had been at the table for almost twenty long, alone, deceiving minutes.   
The atmosphere clouded with steam and aromas drove her nose's mucus membranes to tickle,   
due to her pregnancy. The whole thing was uncomfortable for her, but she couldn't do   
anything but wait, just another moment.   
  
Her self-confidence fluctuated with every breath; she drummed a tactless melody against the   
glossy tabletop. They weren't going to show- neither of them. Her heart beat double every   
time someone had passed her table, but it had never been Tom, her flirtful acquaintance,  
or a pregnant couple.   
  
She was just about to rise and hurry home accompanied by her own embittering, when she felt  
a gentle hand on her shoulder force her down again. The following second, Tom slumped down  
in the chair to her right side, and B'Elanna hoped her relieved sigh wasn't too audible.   
  
"I'm sorry, I'm late!" Tom squinted at her. "Math and Kizaar cancelled in the last minute;   
actually a few minutes after that."   
  
B'Elanna twisted a piece of a napkin; she'd torn it into pieces while waiting, between her   
fingers; focused only on that single piece. "Why?"  
  
"Apparently Kizaar had become nauseous just before they were getting dressed to leave. I take  
it you know how it is. A mutual friend got to me just as I walked out my door."   
Tom also took a piece of a former napkin from one of the piles she'd ordered them in.   
After size and completeness. He realized that she really did not have much to do.   
  
"I thought you were going to work here tonight." She nodded at the disk in the other end of   
the room. "And I felt... betrayed when I saw that you weren't already here."   
  
"Oh, this is actually my one free night this week."  
  
A few seconds passed, during which only the faint sound of paper napkins being torn could be  
heard around their table.   
  
"I understand if you want to go home now. You might be tired," he mumbled, deliberately   
freeing his fingers from the addictive plucking he engorged now.   
  
"No," she looked up, a whole new sight of determination; life, rose within her eyes. "Now I'm  
here, as we decided. And there's no reason why two friends can't take a short walk in the   
evening." B'Elanna finished soberly, emphasized 'friends' carefully, and elicited a suiting  
smile from both Tom and herself.   
  
The two stood up, and much to B'Elanna's perplex, Tom insisted on draping the coat over her  
shoulder, too keep the threatening chills away from her.   
  
***   
  
Well outside, the air was clear but cold. They both felt exhilarated and alive, breathed   
deeply to stay that way.   
  
  
"How long have you been here?" Tom asked, perfectly satisfied strolling next to B'Elanna's side.   
  
"A few weeks. You?"   
  
"About the same."   
  
B'Elanna nodded and noticing that he glanced at her round belly, she smiled. "I didn't know him  
too well."   
  
Needless to ask her to specify, Tom understood that she finally talked about the father of her  
unborn baby. A child who would meet a cold and taunting world without a father to shelter it.   
It didn't matter how strong the mother was, a child bound to grow up in this world, needed two  
parents according to Tom's personal beliefs. That was why he begun seeing something more than a  
possible romance when he realized she was pregnant. She needed shelter that no one could give,   
and he pitied her.   
  
***   
  
A white puff of steam reached out for the pair as they walked yet another meter. During the past  
fifteen minutes he'd heard more anxiety and sorrow than he'd done in his whole life, and it was  
all poured out of a single person. B'Elanna had even stopped short to lean her head against his   
shoulder and catch her breath when the story became too heavy, too fresh, and too painful.  
She only touched the part that was fresh, not so much about her life before the pregnancy, but   
how some of the other workers looked at her.   
  
Their short walk had turned into a trip down memory lane, and it was late. They realized that  
the curfew must have possessed the area since long ago, and that they just were lucky not to   
have run into the arms of a waiting guard.   
  
B'Elanna prompted that they'd go their separate ways back to their respective apartments,   
since it would be 'faster to move alone'. Tom knew that she subtly implied that she delayed him,  
but he ignored it and kept quiet.   
  
"So, it's good-bye for today," she stated, frank. Dark eyes sparkling, the only evidence of that  
she'd truly enjoyed her best evening for a very long time.   
  
"Sadly, it is."   
  
They looked directly at one another and Tom weren't even aware that they got closer until   
them, all of a sudden; abrupt and speechless were separated by mere inches. He could feel the  
life radiating, glowing and reflecting, from her warm skin; so different the cold night   
surroundings.   
  
Panic welled up inside of B'Elanna, with a sacrifice of pure self-defence she turned away,   
broke the delicate, astonishing connection they'd built. He was not going to get permission to   
kiss her. No one would, ever again. That was it.   
  
"I wanted a friend," she whispered, future tear-stains already scattering across her blank eyes.   
"As you promised me."   
  
And so B'Elanna Torres stalked away, the spring in her steps gone. Now each step was heavy, a  
hard and struggling fight. Like they had been before. She drove her hands deep down into the   
pockets of her handed attire, the green trouser suit she'd grown so fond of.   
  
The coldness swirling around her seemed colder and more aggressive than ever. She just   
wanted to go home and build herself inside a bunker of quilts, blankets and pillows.   
  
All the time alone with Tom she'd been waiting to give him that burning comment which flamed up  
within her anytime he looked at her. And every time he smiled it burst out of control until she  
was alone again. He saved her from a life on her own, but now she feared that flame was dying.   
  
"If I had known the father of my baby, I would have wanted him to be like you."   
High praise from her side. She sighed deeply and shuddered as another outburst of imperishable   
steam shot into her face. And now he would never hear it.  
  
****  
  
End.   
  
*** 


End file.
